15 Things All Doctors Lie About

You’d think that your doctor would be the one person you can trust in this world. And for the most part, maybe yours is very honest with you. But after reading about the things that doctors have admitted to lying about, you might rethink what they say to you. It’s incredibly possible that they aren’t giving you the whole truth. Sure, their intentions (even when lying) aren’t always malicious. Sometimes, they really are looking out for you and believe that it would be more beneficial to you, their patient, if they lied. But other times, they’re only trying to save themselves. For example, did you know that doctors will often make deals with prescription companies to prescribe as many of their products as they can? It’s like a car salesman trying to hit his quota. That’s really crazy to think that the doctor would give you something you don’t even need (often making you pay for it if insurance doesn’t cover it) just so they can “hit their quota.”

Now, not all doctors do this, but it’s scary to know that some do. Some have even been sued for it. I pray that your doctor is completely honest, but after reading these secrets, you might not have the same wishes. Some things are best left unsaid. I bet you’re just dying to hear about these fifteen other lies that doctors tell, so let’s get on with it. Trust me, guys, I’m a doctor.

15.“I’ve Seen This A Thousand Times”

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How many times have you heard a doctor say, “I’ve seen this a thousand times?” It’s usually said to try to calm you down and let you know that your case is far from unique. But the truth is that sometimes, your case is unique, at least to the doctor treating you. If you hear them say that they’ve seen it a hundred times, then they might just be using that as a way to let you know that they are confident in their treatment.

It isn’t often malicious, as it is simply a way to ease both your and their worry if they can just show a little confidence. They want you to know that everything is going to be okay. In order to let you know that, they want you to know that they have been down this road before and everything turned out all right in the end.

14.Your Chances Of Living

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This one might be obvious but it’s actually the number one lie that doctors tell. It’s because of two things: doctors have hearts and can hardly say, “Hey, nice knowing you,” and the drama that ensues is ridiculously tiring for them. They don’t want a hundred family members in the hospital room to say goodbye. They want peace, both for you and for them. Why not think let that you could potentially live another five years even if you end up passing away in six months? What will you lose? Not much. It’s incentive to live like you are dying, feeling your life with love and adventure.

But most of all, they just can’t tell you that you’re going to die. They want to be optimistic, and they would not tell you something if it was entirely possible, even if it might not be likely. Letting go of a patient in your care makes it feel like it’s our fault. Ask any new doctor and they will tell you that they struggle with giving people their fate. Being Death’s messenger is no delight.

13.“I’ll Get Right On Top Of That”

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Do you know what happens when you leave the doctor after a long conversation about referrals and prescriptions? They go right on to the next patient and forget all about it. It could be days before they get around to that referral. Sometimes it’s not until you call the receptionist and ask about it that they go, “Oh, crap…” and get on the computer before they forget about it again. Their lives are full and it’s easy to forget one thing you need to do for one patient.

If you expect them to do what they say they are going to do exactly when you want them to, then you’re fooling yourself. When they say, “I’ll sign for that prescription as soon as I get out of here,” or “I’ll have my nurse right that up ASAP,” they really mean, “I’ll do that whenever it’s a convenient time and I remember to.” Doctors are probably the busiest people in the world.

12.“This Won’t Hurt A Bit”

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We understand this one, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. This could be during a shot or after surgery. The truth is that 99% of doctors will lie to you about how much something will hurt. The reasons are simple. For starters, will it really hurt any less if you know how much it will hurt? Not really. But even more than that, you being nervous, tense, and dreading the encounter for months is only going to make things worse. When your body is relaxed, it’s easier for the doctor to do his job and it really will hurt less.

Nevertheless, it’s still a lie, so remember whenever the doctor says, “It’ll feel about like a bee sting, maybe less,” he might just mean, “It’ll feel about like a semi-truck ran over your face that was being attacked by a swarm of bees, maybe worse.”

11.“I’m Fine”

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Just like your girlfriend, doctors will forever say that they are fine. Not because they are trying to play some game, but because they really want to focus on their patients. Besides, being sick would be a nightmare for them so they really want to avoid that, even by lying to themselves when the cough starts. They will work in the absolute worst conditions because they would give up anything for their job, regardless of how they feel.

So they have to be fine. How can they treat you when they need treatment themselves? It’s a tough road, that of a doctor, and it is no wonder that so many of them are on prescriptions they prescribed themselves. They will do whatever it takes to keep going. They believe it’s for your own good to lie to the world about how they feel emotionally, physically, and every other way. But it sure is hard to do your job when you feel like death warmed over.

10.They Take “Plenty Of Time Off”

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Most doctors take their job very seriously. A good majority of the time, they even refuse to take any time off unless completely necessary. This could lead to troubles in their personal life. The whole thing about missing your daughter’s recital because of work that you see in movies is totally legit in real life. So is forgetting your wife’s/husband’s birthday.

But besides that, they get so exhausted that it’s easy to make mistakes, meaning they could become a danger to society. Just like they will say that they are fine, they will also not let themselves know that they’ve worked 120 hours that week, or that they take 36-hour shifts and only eat once during those. They will even convince themselves that their kids don’t miss them. When in reality, they know the truth, but they’ll never tell you that. That’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

9.“I Know What I’m Doing”

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How many times have you heard this, or just a simple “I know?” It is a common thing said by doctors. They want you to think they know everything there is to know about everything. But when it comes down to it, they’re just human like you and me. They don’t know everything, and they do make mistakes. But they want you to think they are supernatural and have heard of everything that you could possibly have. But here’s the secret. They use Google too. Sure, they’ll always know the basics, but anything more differs depending on the doctor. You can’t remember everything you’ve ever read in medical textbooks. You just can’t, whether you are a doctor or not.

But that doesn’t mean that you won’t believe that your doctor is a living Google. And it’s likely because Google is their best friend. They probably even have special little Doctor Google sites that we don’t have access to. Or maybe they use Web MD like us.

8.Natural Cause Of Death

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Natural causes of death do happen, but there are so many times when it was actually preventable. Your loved one goes through surgery and died three days later due to natural causes? Sure. In reality, doctors will do anything they can do not get sued. They will lie to your face about what happened in order to protect themselves. Since they can’t change anything by telling you the truth, I do understand the reasoning, but that doesn’t make it right.

It’s easier to hear that your loved one died due to natural causes than it is to hear that some inept or overtired surgeon nicked an organ. Or that the lung cancer wasn’t caught until it was too far into the fourth stage. They just didn’t have the time, heart, or reason to tell you when it would be much easier to let him pass there.

7.“It’s A Miracle!”

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This one is related to the natural cause of death. You go through surgery, they mess up and don’t tell you. You nearly die, but then… you don’t. Must be a miracle, right? Or they are just trying to cover their own butts. This isn’t always the case, though. Doctors have a love/hate relationship with hope that kills them. They don’t want you to have the same relationship that they do. So if they figure out how to save you before it’s too late, they often have no problem giving you hope that miracles do happen. They may be able to right a ten-page report on how everything went down. But it’s a lot easier and more magical for you, their patient, if they leave it at, “It’s a miracle, Mrs. Smith. This was out of my control.” Have you not heard that before? I guess miracles do happen, but sometimes, they don’t.

6.“Your Patient Copy Is A True Copy”

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There is a real story of a man who was given a patient copy of his report that stated everything was fairly mild. But then, when he lost his paper, he called his general physician rather than the specialty doctor that gave him the report. His GP gave him his own copy (which he copied) and it turned out he had an untreatable disease. When he confronted the specialty doctor, they told him that there was nothing they could do and they wanted to have time to figure out what they might be able to do about it before they told him.

This happens more often than not, sometimes with good reasons, sometimes with bad. But does it really matter? I think I’d like to see my real records and not some washed over lie. Because as humans, we believe that we deserve nothing but the truth.

5.“We’ll Treat You The Same As Everyone Else”

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All patients are treated equally, right? No discrimination? Well, that’s easy to say when you are the same race, age, religion, and gender as your doctor. But what if you’re not? Age rarely plays a part in this, but the others do. Reports of racist doctors are endless, but reports of homophobic doctors are scary. Some trans folks have said that they always get second opinions due to the lies that have been told to them. They were told they have STDs, prescribed dangerous meds, and more.

Reports show that 19% of transgendered or non-gender conforming patients are refused medical care, 28% are harassed, and 2% are physically assaulted by medical staff.

The same goes for other religions. In general, Christian doctors will give better treatment to other Christians than they will to Muslims, Buddhists, or atheists. It’s not right in the least, but it does happen. Ask Tyra Hunter.

4.“Everything Went Smoothly”

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Everything went smoothly, except your heart wasn’t beating for twenty minutes and you now have only one kidney and half a liver. Other than that, everything is peachy keen. Just take these seven prescriptions every two hours for the rest of your life, and don’t’ worry about it. Just… don’t do any hard labor, eat meat, or take baths.

Sound familiar? Probably not, but the point is that often whenever the doctor says that everything went smoothly, it really didn’t. There could have been tons of mistakes made while in surgery or while getting an exam. But of course, they won’t say anything if the ending result is okay. Why would they? Is there any reason to know complications that are in the past? You can’t change them, and they won’t affect your life. Still, 99% of patients say that they absolutely still want to know. And I don’t blame them. What if complications arise later on?

3.“We Didn’t Give You This Problem”

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On the other hand, if the ending result is not so good, that doesn’t mean they will tell you that it’s their fault that you no longer have hearing in your left ear. Doctors make mistakes and more often than not, they won’t tell you that they did. I mean, have you ever had a doctor tell you that they messed up, especially when it will affect you for life? That’s just not something they are capable of. They may even lie to themselves and come up with a reason for the problem that occurred to make it someone else’s fault. Maybe it’s your laundry detergent… Ah, always the chemicals.

Sometimes doctors who don’t get enough rest and were negligent as a result. However, since you signed those papers before surgery, I guess that means that you gave them consent to do whatever it took. Many fail to read the form and are then left with nothing to cling to once things go wrong.

2.“This Will Make You Feel Better”

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There’s this thing called the placebo effect where a doctor gives you a pill or treatment that does absolutely nothing. Why? Because as long as you think it will do something, then your mind has a chance of convincing your body that it will. They are often used in studies to see which pills actually work. They will see which patients start having symptoms of the real pills by giving some of them real ones and some fake ones.

The reality is that some of the people with the placebo will be the first to report reactions from the pills, even though they were given nothing. The effect is hundreds of years old and still holds today. If a patient seems like the type to “need” something to take, they are often prescribed a placebo, which will do absolutely nothing to their body and everything to their mind.

1.What They Do For A Living

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I remember seeing a Whisper confession of a man who said that he never told those who didn’t know him as a doctor that he was one. He claims that people treat you differently when they know. For one, they assume you have tons of money. And they also think you’re stuck up, work too much, and have no connection to humans. There’s this entire persona that is hard to detach from. So many doctors will not let anyone they don’t know well in on their secret. It’s much easier if they think you’re an average Joe out getting your groceries or having a few drinks at a bar like everyone else.

This is kind of like the way celebs like to go to places they won’t be recognized so that they can live a normal life for a few hours. Good luck getting dates when you start lying about your profession.